By: Citlalli Ortiz, CMSC News - April 22, 2020
Anel Medina is a highly mature 22-year old DACA recipient from Philadelphia, PA fighting in the frontlines while also watching her future juggle in limbo. Anel was born in Iztapalapa, Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. with her mother at the age of 5. She developed her passion for the healthcare industry when she had to be a translator for her mom’s medical appointments at a very young age and found that there was a lack of Spanish-speaking medical workers to help the Latino community.
Today she is a registered nurse serving in a hospital in Pennsylvania. Anel shares openly about the love she acquired for the medical profession the passion she found in helping others, which shaped her commitment to pursue this career. But she didn't know that her passion for others was going to be so valuable during this time while her legal status would be in the air.
“Yes, I think DACA opened the door for me to study the nursing profession and it opened more doors and more possibilities, like attending healthcare conferences, being able to learn from internships and other people, and my life has definitely changed. It has been a blessing.”
With the Supreme Court’s decision on DACA arriving soon. Anel says: “There must be a pathway for citizenship for Dreamers. The country has called upon us to care for their sick, but we also have to feel like this country has our backs.”
Anel’s parents who are also essential workers, are currently working in the fields picking mushrooms, yet they will not receive the economic relief from the government stimulus package due to their undocumented status. Emotionally, Anel expressed that “what 27,000 DACA recipients have done as health professionals is only a small sample of what 11 million undocumented immigrants have done in this country, including her parents.”
The contribution of undocumented immigrants and Dreamers is a heroic and hugely important contribution to battle the Coronavirus pandemic, but tragically most of them are essential workers who are not being recognized by the government.
Source: CMSC News
